


Holding Out For A Hero

by Sixthlight



Series: Not A Coffeeshop AU [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Blind Date, Community: theoldguardkinkmeme, First Meetings, M/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26666392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sixthlight/pseuds/Sixthlight
Summary: “That’s my supervisor,” said Nile, lowering her voice. “He told me he had a blind date. I don’t think it’s going too well.”“Well, if he needs to be rescued,” said Nicky, “let me know.”
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Not A Coffeeshop AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1963975
Comments: 79
Kudos: 1336





	1. Blind Luck

“Good book, huh?” Nile said. Nicky looked up to see her standing next to his table, and realised that it had got dark outside while he’d been absorbed.

“Yes, it is,” he said, shuffling aside two empty coffee cups to put it down. “Has Andy sent you to kick me out in favour of customers who are still ordering things?”

“Andy has sent me to clear your table and remind you that three coffees and a glass of wine aren’t a meal, so either you eat something here, or she’s kicking you out to find food somewhere else. But no pressure.” Nile waggled her eyebrows.

Nicky laughed. Labrys was his favourite place. Café by day, whiskey bar by night, owned by two good friends, always somewhere he felt comfortable camping out and reading a book. “Tell Andy I will go do that soon. I just want to finish this chapter.”

“What brought on the desire to read about…” Nile craned to read off the title. “Islamic perspectives on the Crusades? Shit, I think that’s on my assigned reading list. I might have to borrow it off you.”

Nile was a PhD student; this was her weekend job, which Nicky knew she mostly had because Andy was very flexible about her hours and let her read when it was quiet. It was in the hours after the café business had finished and before the whiskey really started flowing, so the place was practically empty right now. The only other customers were two men, recently arrived, about three tables over from Nicky in his comfy window spot. Nicky noticed them particularly because when Nile mentioned her reading list, she turned to look at them.

“Certainly, when I’m done,” said Nicky. “What’s so interesting about those two over there?”

“That’s my supervisor,” Nile said, lowering her voice. “Blind date. I know because he asked me if I’d mind if he brought him here, or if it would be too weird. I said it was fine. But I think it’s not going too well.”

Nile had mentioned her supervisor in passing a time or two. Nicky knew that he was a senior lecturer who didn’t yet have a permanent position, very kind, and his surname was al-Kaysani. Nile had _not_ mentioned that he was extremely handsome, with a head of dark curls, very nice arms, and a beautiful smile. Nicky could see already, though, that Nile was right about the date not going well. The other man, a slightly ferrety-looking white Englishman in some sort of strange hoodie-blazer, wasn’t letting Senior Lecturer al-Kaysani get a word in edgeways. The beautiful smile was being deployed in a way Nicky recognised from his own job as a nurse; professionally. This was not deterring the Englishman. Or of course, perhaps the Englishman was al-Kaysani, but that didn’t seem at all likely, nor did his demeanor match Nile’s stories.

“Well,” Nicky said, because he had nearly finished his glass of wine and the mood struck him, “if he needs to be rescued, just let me know.”

“You know what, I’ll keep that in mind,” said Nile.

Nicky didn’t end up finishing his chapter, or leaving; he ordered another glass of wine, and listened. The Englishman simply would not stop talking. All his stories were about how important he was, and how much money he had, and how his company was going to change the world. Al-Kaysani was glancing more and more frequently at the door.

After another fifteen minutes or so, Nicky spotted Nile behind the bar, texting. A second later, al-Kaysani looked at his phone, and started texting back.

“Excuse me, Joe,” the Englishman said at once. “Not to tell you what to do, but when I go on a date with someone, I expect them to give it their full attention. You’ve certainly got mine.”

“Right, right, sorry,” said al-Kaysani – Joe. “It’s one of my students.”

“Surely you have office hours,” scoffed the Englishman.

“I do, but I take my job very seriously,” said Joe. “I’m there to mentor them, not just to teach them.”

The Englishman made another deprecating noise, and launched into a diatribe about the uselessness of PhD students who interned at his company. Nicky’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number.

_Nile gave me your number. Still willing to interrupt? You’d be my hero._

Nicky waited until the Englishman was in full flight, caught Joe’s eyes, and nodded, once. Out of the other man’s line of sight, just under the table, Joe gave him a thumbs-up.

Nicky threw back the last of his second glass, grabbed his book and his jacket, and left the café as discreetly as possible. He took the side exit – the door was quieter – out to the garden seating, which was empty because it was pouring down, in traditional English summer fashion. He dashed around to the front and let himself stand in the rain for a few seconds, so he had evidently been outside. Then he strode in the main door, putting a little too much force into it so that the left-hand door banged off the wall, the way that he knew it did because he’d been here so many times. He stopped dead as it swung shut behind him, looking directly at Joe.

Nile looked up from the bar; the Englishman looked around, scowling; Joe sat bolt upright, meeting Nicky’s gaze. He’d got the cue. Excellent.

“Joe?” Nicky said, loudly and in as stunned a voice as he could manage, and then remembered that Joe probably didn’t know his name.

Fortunately, that didn’t seem to matter. “I – I don’t know what to say,” said Joe. “I – what are you doing in London?”

“I live here now,” said Nicky, walking slowly towards their table, letting himself be captured by Joe’s gaze. It wasn’t hard; Joe had beautiful eyes, deep and dark and with smile lines at the corners. Nicky could look into eyes like that all day.

“I didn’t know,” breathed Joe. 

“Excuse me,” said the Englishman, very loudly. They both ignored him.

“I know this isn’t the time or the place,” Nicky said, stopping about a metre away, “but forgive me, tesoro, I have to say it – I am so sorry for how things ended.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said Joe, standing up. “It was mine, mio caro.” He switched fluidly to Italian. “ _How far are you willing to take this_?”

“ _As far as you like, I’m having fun,_ ” Nicky said in the same language, making sure it sounded like a question. The Englishman clearly didn't understand them. He switched back to English. “How can you say that? I know it was unforgivable –”

“No, no,” Joe said, took Nicky in his arms, and kissed him on the mouth.

As first kisses with strangers went, it wasn’t the best Nicky had ever had. But that was mostly because they were both smiling into it, a second away from breaking their composure. Joe made up for that by bending Nicky over his arm dramatically; Nicky threw both arms around him and clung on. Someone whistled. It was almost certainly Andy’s wife Quỳnh.

“Ex-CUSE ME,” said the Englishman, shooting up from his chair; he was beet red. “I don’t know what sort of date you call this, but –”

“I don’t think it’s going to work out, Steven,” Joe said, sort of apologetically but not very sincerely. “The two of us have some catching up to do, as you can see. Good luck with, uh, the dating thing.”

Steven, if that was his name, started spluttering. Nicky grabbed Joe by the hand and dragged him out of the café. It was still raining; they made a dash down the road to stand under a bus shelter.

“Shit!” said Joe, as they stopped, half-out of breath, half-laughing. “I left my jacket.”

“I’m sure Nile can grab it for you,” said Nicky, grinning recklessly. “Unless you want to go back in there.”

“No.” Joe shivered. “No thank you. I couldn’t hear myself think over the sound of his voice, and I work with academics, I’m practically immune to that. This is the last time I let anybody from biology set me up on a blind date, screw you, Meta.” He shook his head, as if casting that whole line of thought away, and smiled; a real smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling, a million times more brilliant than the version he’d given Steven. “I am so sorry; I don’t even know your name.”

“Nicky,” said Nicky, holding out his hand; they shook. “I am a friend of Nile’s. We provide medical aid at protests together.” He didn’t mind telling Joe that; Nile had told him he knew about that particular hobby of hers, if you could call it a hobby.

“Nicky,” repeated Joe. “Well, Nicky, you really are my hero this evening. Can I buy you a drink, to say thank you?”

“You don’t owe me anything, it was my pleasure,” Nicky said, putting his hands in his pockets and ducking his head. He looked back up through his eyelashes; he knew it had worked to effect on previous dates. “But…unless you have had enough of blind dates for the evening, and I take no offense whatsoever if you have…I was about to go and get a proper dinner. Would you join me?”

Joe didn’t even hesitate; it was the most flattering thing that had happened to Nicky in years. “Of course. I need to hear the full story of how you cruelly broke my heart, and where, and when, and how we have fatefully recollided in a foreign city.” He winked. “And if I’m very _very_ lucky, maybe there will be a proper kiss at the end of it, instead of the show we put on in there.”

“Sounds like a romance,” Nicky said, holding out his arm. “I’m excited to see how it plays out.”

“Me too,” said Joe, taking his arm. The rain had slowed to a drizzle. They stepped out from the shelter, and walked up the road together.

*

“Is Joe coming back for his jacket?” Andy asked Nile, an hour later. “I owe him and Nicky a drink each on the house, for that performance. Funniest thing that’s happened in here for months.”

“I don’t think so,” Nile said, showing Andy her phone. There was a text on it from Nicky. _Taking your supervisor out for dinner. He’ll come and get his jacket tomorrow. Don’t wait up._

 _“_ Damn,” said Andy. “Smooth work, Nicky.”

Nile laughed. “Looked like a team effort to me.”


	2. First Kiss, Second Time 'Round

Kissing Joe for real, Nicky found standing on his own doorstep, was a very different thing from kissing Joe in a dramatic display of romance to scare off his terrible blind date. When he meant it, Joe kissed gently, not even touching Nicky except for a brush of fingers on the side of his face. Nicky enjoyed it anyway; the slight scratch of Joe’s beard, the sound of the rain, the warm press of their lips. He was going to save it up to get him through the next week of night shifts.

“I’d like to do this again,” Joe said when they pulled apart. “If that’s all right.”

Nicky grimaced ruefully, and Joe started to step back; Nicky put a hand on his wrist. “No! No, I would love to – I’m working night shifts all this week.”

“Ah,” Joe said, relaxing under Nicky’s hand. “I see. How’s your weekend?”

They negotiated for another minute or two, and settled on a walk, the following Sunday.

“I look forward to it,” Nicky said politely, feeling the wave of first-date awkwardness finally crash down. They’d sailed into dinner on a wave of joint amusement at their own cleverness, and spent most of it improvising a dramatic tale of lost love to underly the scene they’d played out, to amuse Nile and Andy and Quỳnh with at a later date. Now they were just being themselves. It was a lot harder.

“Me too,” Joe said, just as awkwardly, and Nicky couldn’t stand it any longer. He kissed Joe again, not gently. Before he had a chance to panic that he was overplaying his hand, Joe groaned against his mouth, and Nicky wound a hand into those lovely curls, and they kissed until they were both breathless.

“Well, now I’m really looking forward to it,” Joe said, his eyes alight. “Still want to make it a walk?”

“Who knows where we’ll end up,” Nicky said, grinning, giving him one last peck on the lips just because, and went inside buoyed on another wave of happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bonus REAL first kiss scene as requested in the comments!


	3. We'll Always Have Rome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Workshopping the backstory.

“We met,” Joe said with a grand gesture, his eyes sparkling, “in Rome, last summer.”

“Rome?” Nicky said skeptically. “I thought we agreed on Florence.”

“No, Rome.” Joe shook his head. “Much more…romantic.”

Nile groaned at the pun. She and Quỳnh were sitting with Joe and Nicky at one of the tables at the front of Labrys. Andy was behind the bar, in case anybody else came in; it was nine o’clock on a very rainy Sunday night, so that wasn’t likely. They closed at ten. 

“Fine, we met in Rome,” Nicky conceded. “At a café.”

“Ugh, boring,” said Quỳnh. “Who spends time in cafés?”

“Poor academics who need somewhere to write because they can only afford to rent tiny rooms while they are visiting the archives, and laptops are banned in the archives,” said Joe. “Well, that was Istanbul, but I’m sure it’s true in Rome as well.”

“Overworked medical staff who want to drink a glass of wine and sit somewhere peaceful, when it has been car accidents all night,” said Nicky.

“And why were you in Rome?” Andy asked, not even pretending to wipe down the bar, grinning at them.

“Visiting family?” suggested Nile.

Nicky pulled a face. “I do not have family in _Rome_.”

“I could have been visiting family,” suggested Joe. “Meta doesn’t know anything about them.”

“I was on a training course, perhaps,” Nicky suggested. “I bet she doesn’t know anything about professional development for accident and emergency nurses, either.”

“That I’m willing to bet on.” Joe spun his cocktail glass between his hands. Earlier, Andy had taken professional pride in creating him the most elaborate non-alcoholic cocktail Nicky had ever seen. Nile was drinking whiskey, he had a glass of wine, and Quỳnh had another of Andy’s cocktails – alcohol included. “So. We’re both in this café, in Rome, and our eyes meet across a crowded room.”

“Cliché.” Quỳnh waved it away.

“It’s how we met here,” Nicky pointed out.

“You met because I gave Joe your number and told him you’d offered to save him from his date from hell,” said Nile. “That is _not_ the same thing.”

“He wasn’t from hell, he was from the City.” Joe made a face. “Except he thinks he’s better than the rest of them. Much, much worse.”

“Focus,” said Andy. “You met because…”

Nicky snapped his fingers. “Joe spilled red wine on me. A white shirt, of course.”

“Fine, I’ll be the clumsy one.” Joe leaned back in his chair. “I apologized, of course.”

“Profusely. But the shirt was ruined.”

“I offered to lend you a clean one, from my nearby rented room.” Joe grinned. “You came back with me…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Nile waved her hands. “Slow down. Is this a meet-cute story, or a porno?”

“I don’t see why it can’t be both.” Nicky raised his eyebrows. “We have to explain why we failed to keep in touch, so if all we did was –”

“PhD! Supervisor!” Nile jabbed her finger at Joe. “No! No wild sex romps in this story!”

“I hate to break it to you, Nile,” Joe said sagely, “but academia does _not_ leave time for wild sex romps. You’re safe.”

Nicky thought about pointing out that this was grossly eliding what he and Joe had spent last weekend doing, but Nile’s heart probably couldn’t take it, so he didn’t. “Fine. What if Joe goes _back_ to his room and gets me a shirt, and then I change at the café?”

“Acceptable,” Nile allowed. “Then what?”

“We don’t need to get into detail.” Joe wrinkled his nose. “One thing led to another, lots of late dinners, romantic walks, that sort of thing…”

“Your memory is clouded by love.” Quỳnh nodded. “Or hormones, but we can choose to not get into detail there, either.”

“I’m happy to get into detail,” Andy said, waggling her eyebrows. Quỳnh winked at her wife. Nicky made a very rude gesture.

“That’s not the important bit,” said Nile. “You said in front of what’s his face that Nicky did something to break your heart, so –”

“I didn’t say that. Nicky said it was unforgivable.”

“Close enough. What was it?”

“A girlfriend back home.” Joe shrugged. “What? It’s simple, it’s a common story, it explains everything –”

Nicky wrinkled his nose. “The cheating bisexual? No. I don’t like it.”

“You’re not even the bisexual in this relationship.”

“I’m gonna pull solidarity on your behalf, Joe, and agree with Nicky,” said Andy. “Let’s be more creative.”

“I have it!” Nicky slapped the table. “Football!”

“Football, really? Oh, you mean soccer.” Nile shook her head. “You think that’s going to do it?”

“Yeah.” Joe nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’ll work. I support, uh, Barcelona, you turn out to be a fervent supporter of Milan. And, and. You lied to me about it! I was wearing a Barcelona shirt, that first day, so you pretended to support them, to keep the conversation going.”

“We’re both leaving the city soon anyway,” Nicky continued. “Tempers flare, things are said that cannot be unsaid…”

“Neither of us knows that a year later, you will walk into a café in London, having moved to the UK, and there I will be. On the worst date of my life.”

“You can’t say that bit. Didn’t she set this date up?”

“Oh, right. Well, a date that was not going very well. Obviously it wasn’t, or I wouldn’t have walked out on him for you.”

“But, tesoro,” Nicky said. “I _am_ just that devastatingly attractive.”

“Oh, no doubt,” Joe murmured. Their eyes met. Nile waved a hand between them.

“Uh-uh,” she said. “On your own time. We’re workshopping this story for you.”

“Why do you even need a story?” Quỳnh asked. “Just say it didn’t go well.”

Joe wiped a hand down his face. “Because Meta is _exactly_ that sort of person. She’s going to ask. And I bet the unlamented Steven is the sort of person who will have complained at great length to her about everything that happened.”

“You need to stop hanging out with the biology department,” said Nile. “That’s all there is to it.”

“I know.” Joe sipped his mocktail. “Good work, everybody. I wish all my departmental meetings were this efficient.”

“Blame Professor Copley,” said Nile. “I do. He doesn’t know how to stop people once they get going.”

“Sad, but true.”

“I’m flipping the sign,” Andy declared, throwing her rag down on the bar. “We’re not making any more money tonight.”

“Let us know how it goes,” said Quỳnh, delicately sipping her own concoction. “I want to know if the story works.”

“I promise,” said Joe. “All the juicy details.”

*

“So?” Andy said, the next week.

“Ugh,” Joe said, slumping back in his chair. “She didn’t even ask! She apologised! Said she heard it hadn’t gone well and that Steven had ranted something at her about being interrupted, but it all sounded too ridiculous to be true. Said she wouldn’t be setting him up with anybody she worked with again.”

“How dare she,” said Quỳnh. “That bitch. So _reasonable_.”

“She’s still a bit weird about her work,” said Joe. “But, fine, best-case scenario, I suppose.”

“Did you tell her you wouldn’t be needing any more blind dates?” Nicky said pointedly.

“Of course,” said Joe, and took his hand. Nile sighed.

“Shut up, I love it,” said Andy. “But that is a bit of a let-down.”

“Never mind,” Nicky said, grinning fondly at his boyfriend. “We’ll always have Rome.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this kink meme prompt](https://theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/4011.html?thread=1158059#cmt1158059): 
> 
> _Modern AU where Joe is on a blind date with a guy named Merrick and it is absolutely awful- Merrick keeps talking talking talking and not letting Joe get a word in edge wise and name dropping and he even mentions an ex!_
> 
> _Nicky sees this handsome man clearly wanting to escape from his very bad date and decides to approach as if he's a long lost summer fling of Joe's and makes a whole romantic speech in front of Merrick and just as Merrick is starting to yell at Nicky for interrupting, Joe just goes with it and dives in to kiss Nicky passionately until Merrick leaves_


End file.
